Kuerten, Hingis get top billing

Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten and Martina Hingis of Switzerland were on Thursday named top seeds for the men's and women's singles at next week's Australian Open in Melbourne.

Defending champion Andre Agassi was given his world ranking of six as his seeding for the year's first Grand Slam tournament, while women's champion Lindsay Davenport was named second seed.

Kuerten becomes the second South American to obtain top seeding at a Grand Slam since 1981 when Argentine's Guillermo Vilas was No.1 seed at the Australian Open.

Kuerten only sealed the world top ranking in the final match of last year's Masters Cup in Lisbon when he beat Agassi.

Two-time winner and world No.3 Pete Sampras is seeded three and 1999 winner and last year's finalist Yevgeny Kafelnikov comes in at five.

It is the third time in five visits that Hingis has been the top seed, while reigning Wimbledon, US Open champion and Sydney Olympic old medallist Venus Williams is number three.

Four-time winner Monica Seles, who missed last year's tournament due to injury, is fourth seed.

Organisers copied the world rankings for the men's seedings, but deviated in the women's draw with Spain's Arantza Sanchez Vicario, world ranked at nine, missing out on the 16 seeding positions.

France's Amelie Mauresmo, who was a beaten finalist to Hingis in 1999, was given the 13th seeding.